Pro-democracy activists rallied outside the United States consulate in Hong Kong Sunday as they try to ramp up international pressure on Beijing following three months of huge and sometimes violent protests. Millions have taken to Hong Kong’s streets over the last 14 weeks in the biggest challenge to China’s rule since the city’s handover from Britain in 1997. The protests were ignited by a now scrapped plan to allow extraditions to the authoritarian mainland, seen by opponents as the latest move by Beijing to chip away at the international finance hub’s unique freedoms. But after Beijing and city leaders took a hard line, the movement snowballed into a broader campaign calling for greater democracy, police accountability and an amnesty for those arrested. Protesters wave U.S. flags as they march from Chater Garden to the US consulate in Hong Kong, Sept. 8, 2019, to call on the U.S. to pressure Beijing to meet their demands and for Congress to pass a bill supporting the protest movement. A huge crowd, some waving the Stars and Stripes flag, rallied in a park in Hong Kong’s commercial district and marched to Washington’s nearby consulate. They called on the U.S. to pressure Beijing to meet …

The director of a prestigious research lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology resigned Saturday, and the school’s president ordered an independent investigation amid an uproar over the lab’s ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Joi Ito, director of MIT’s Media Lab, resigned from both the lab and from his position as a professor at the Cambridge school, university President L. Rafael Reif said. The resignation was first reported by The New York Times. Ito’s resignation comes after The New Yorker reported late Friday that Media Lab had a more extensive fundraising relationship with Epstein than it previously acknowledged and tried to conceal the extent of the relationship. FILE – Financier Jeffrey Epstein looks on during a bail hearing in his sex trafficking case, in this court sketch in New York, July 15, 2019. Epstein suicide Epstein killed himself in jail Aug. 10 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Federal prosecutors in New York had charged the 66-year-old with sex trafficking and conspiracy, alleging he sexually abused girls over several years in the early 2000s. In a letter to the MIT community Saturday, Reif called the allegations in The New Yorker “deeply disturbing.” “Because the accusations in the story …

“Grandpa Wong” holds a cane above his head as he pleads with riot police to stop firing tear gas — an 85-year-old shielding protesters on the front lines of Hong Kong’s fight for democracy. Despite his age, Wong is a regular sight at Hong Kong’s street battles, hobbling toward police lines, placing himself in between riot officers and hardcore protesters, hoping to de-escalate what have now become near daily clashes. “I’d rather they kill the elderly than hit the youngsters,” he told AFP during a recent series of skirmishes in the shopping district of Causeway Bay, a gas mask dangling from his chin. “We’re old now, but the children are the future of Hong Kong,” he added. “Grandpa Wong,” center left, 85, shields protesters from the police by stepping between them along with other “silver hair” volunteers in the Tung Chung district in Hong Kong, Sept. 7, 2019. Youth lead, but all march The three months of huge, sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in the semi-autonomous Chinese city are overwhelmingly youth-led. Research by academics has shown that half of those on the streets are between 20 and 30 years old, while 77 percent have degrees. But the movement maintains widespread support …

China’s trade with the United States is falling sharply as the two sides prepare for more negotiations with no sign of progress toward ending a worsening tariff war that threatens global economic growth. Imports of U.S. goods fell 22% in August from a year earlier to $10.3 billion following Chinese tariff hikes and orders to companies to cancel orders, customs data showed Sunday. Exports to the United States, China’s biggest market, sank 16% to $44.4 billion under pressure from punitive tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump in a fight over Beijing’s trade surplus and technology ambitions. Beijing is balking at U.S. pressure to roll back plans for government-led creation of global competitors in robotics and other industries. The United States, Europe, Japan and other trading partners say those plans violate China’s market-opening commitments and are based on stealing or pressuring companies to hand over technology. Employees work on the production line of a television factory under Zhaochi Group in Shenzhen, China, Aug. 8, 2019. Tariffs on billions in goods  U.S. and Chinese tariff hikes on billions of dollars of each other’s imports have disrupted trade in goods from soybeans to medical equipment and battered traders on both sides. Chinese exporters …

The center of Beijing was under lockdown early Sunday for a nighttime parade rehearsal by the Chinese military, which is preparing for Oct. 1 ceremonies to mark Communist China’s 70th anniversary. The enormous Avenue of Eternal Peace, which leads to Tiananmen Square and runs east-west, was closed to traffic for about a dozen kilometers (7 miles) to allow troops to parade around Tiananmen Square, the symbolic heart of Chinese power. It is where Mao Zedong in 1949 proclaimed the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Trucks with propaganda slogans are seen on Beijing’s Changan Avenue, the city’s main east-west boulevard, during an overnight rehearsal of a military parade to mark Communist China’s 70th anniversary, in Beijing, Sept. 7, 2019. Views blocked Areas around the Avenue of Eternal Peace were gradually closed to traffic from late Saturday afternoon and were expected to stay off limits until Sunday morning, causing traffic jams. Security forces blocked access to residences with views of the avenue, ordering several foreign media outlets in the area to leave their offices for the weekend. “We warmly celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China,” proclaimed immense signs being transported by trucks heading …

In Russia, elections are Sept. 8 for municipal and Duma deputies and regional governors. The vote was preceded by months of protests in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Authorities used different tactics to prevent the spread of discontent around the country and contain any opposition. Yulia Savchenko reports from Moscow on how authorities attempted to keep the unrest from spreading, and the strategies used by protesters to sidestep the suppression.   …

At a routine ultrasound when she was five months pregnant, Hevan Lunsford began to panic when the technician took longer than normal, then told her she would need to see a specialist. Lunsford, a nurse in Alabama, knew it was serious and begged for an appointment the next day. That’s when the doctor gave her and her husband the heart-wrenching news: The baby boy they decided to name Sebastian was severely underdeveloped and had only half a heart. If he survived, he would need care to ease his pain and several surgeries. He may not live long. Lunsford, devastated, asked the doctor about ending the pregnancy. “I felt the only way to guarantee that he would not have any suffering was to go through with the abortion,” she said of that painful decision nearly three years ago. FILE – Bianca Cameron-Schwiesow, from left, Kari Crowe and Margeaux Hartline, dressed as handmaids, take part in a protest against HB314, the abortion ban bill, at the Alabama State House in Montgomery, Ala., April 17, 2019. But the doctor said Alabama law prohibits abortions after five months. He handed Lunsford a piece of paper with information for a clinic in Atlanta, a roughly …

Bianca Andreescu displayed the same brand of big-serving, big-hitting, in-your-face tennis that Serena Williams usually does.    And now the 19-year-old from Canada is a Grand Slam champion, earning her first such title while preventing Williams from collecting a record-tying 24th.    Andreescu took charge early in the U.S. Open final, going up by a set and two breaks, then held off a late charge by Williams to win 6-3, 7-5 for the championship Saturday night.    “Being able to play on this stage against Serena, a true legend in this sport, is amazing,” said Andreescu, who was appearing in her first major final, while Williams was in her 33rd. “Oh, man, it wasn’t easy at all.”    This is the second year in a row that Williams has lost in the final at Flushing Meadows. This one had none of the controversy of 2018, when she got into an extended argument with the chair umpire while being beaten by Naomi Osaka.    Still trails Court   Williams has now been the runner-up at four of the seven majors she has entered since returning to the tour after having a baby two years ago. The 37-year-old American remains stuck on …

John Walker of VOA’s Afghanistan service contributed to this report.  WHITE HOUSE — U.S. President Donald Trump says he has called off secret talks that were to be held Sunday at Camp David with Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani and “major Taliban leaders.”  Unbeknownst to almost everyone, the major Taliban leaders and, separately, the President of Afghanistan, were going to secretly meet with me at Camp David on Sunday. They were coming to the United States tonight. Unfortunately, in order to build false leverage, they admitted to.. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) FILE – Members of the Taliban delegation are seen at the Sheraton Doha, before the start of the intra-Afghan dialogue, in Doha, Qatar, July 7, 2019. Trump’s tweet was completely unexpected in light of negotiations that had been continuing in Doha only hours earlier between U.S. officials and the Taliban — talks that the militant group characterized as very positive, according to David Sedney, executive chairman and acting president of the American University of Afghanistan. “There’s a big, big disconnect” among U.S. officials, Sedney told VOA. “The people I talk to see the Taliban’s recent wave of attacks as a clear signal from the Taliban that the Taliban seek …

China urged U.S.-led foreign troops Saturday to withdraw from Afghanistan in an “orderly and responsible” manner if a prospective peace deal is signed with the Islamist Taliban to end the 18-year war. U.S. negotiators are in the final stage of their yearlong bilateral dialogue with the insurgent group. The peace process, being hosted by Qatar, could end America’s longest overseas military intervention. “We call on the United States and the Taliban to continue with the negotiations and to implement the agreement after it is signed,” visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters in neighboring Pakistan. The top Chinese diplomat spoke after attending a trilateral dialogue with Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani and their host and Pakistani counterpart, Shah Mahmood Qureshi. “In particular, we call on them [the U.S. and Taliban] to make good on their commitments regarding the troop drawdown and counterterrorism efforts so that the seeds of peace can be sown and take root,” Wang said. He reiterated China’s resolve to increase its economic and political engagement with Afghanistan to help in rebuilding efforts there. U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad, center, attends the opening of the intra-Afghan dialogue before leaving Afghans to talk among themselves, in Doha, Qatar, …

Former top officials of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are assailing the agency for undermining its weather forecasters as it defends President Donald Trump’s claim that Hurricane Dorian had threatened Alabama.    They say NOAA’s action risks the credibility of the nation’s weather and science agency and may even risk lives.    The critics served both Republican and Democratic presidents. Among them are four former top NOAA officials and a former disaster response chief.    On Friday, a NOAA statement from an anonymous spokesperson lent support to Trump’s warning days earlier that Alabama faced danger from Dorian. Alabama had never been included in official hurricane advisories and his information was outdated.    The statement undermined a National Weather Service tweet from Sunday that had said Alabama would see no impact from Dorian.  …

Thousands of displaced people are living in “rapidly deteriorating” conditions in the worst-hit parts of the Bahamas six days after Hurricane Dorian made landfall, the U.N. World Food Program warned Saturday.    The warning came as aid groups rushed emergency aid to the storm-ravaged islands and officials warned that an official death toll of 43 was likely to spike as the number of missing among the archipelago nation’s 400,000 residents became clear.    Even as the aid ships and aircraft headed in, thousands fled the devastation, some abandoning hard-hit Great Abaco Island to seek safety in the capital, Nassau, and others heading to Florida for shelter, supplies and perhaps jobs.    Ninety percent of the homes, buildings and infrastructure in Marsh Harbour, where Dorian rampaged for almost two full days as one of the strongest Caribbean hurricanes on record, were damaged, the WFP said. It noted that thousands of people were living in a government building, a medical center and an Anglican church that survived the storms, but had little to no access to water, power and sanitary facilities.  U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officers Nicholas Eudier, left, and Nate Matthews unload relief supplies for Hurricane Dorian victims from their C-130 aircraft in Andros, Bahamas, Sept. 7, 2019. …

Several Democratic presidential candidates urged voters in New Hampshire on Saturday to not play it safe in the 2020 election, leveling an implicit critique of front-runner Joe Biden. Biden has centered his campaign on his years of experience in Washington and a perceived ability to steal the support of white, working-class voters away from President Donald Trump. Speaking at the New Hampshire Democrats’ state convention, Biden’s rivals told voters to aim for more. “There is a lot at stake and people are scared. But we can’t choose a candidate we don’t believe in because we’re scared,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who drew a raucous reception. “And we can’t ask other people to vote for someone we don’t believe in.” Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, was more explicit.    “Every time we’ve tried to play it safe with established and Washington-tenured figures, every single time we’ve come up short,” Buttigieg told reporters after his remarks. Warren, Buttigieg and others never mentioned Biden by name. But the target of their message was clear: the former vice president who has led primary polls throughout the year despite questions about whether a 76-year-old white man is best-positioned to be the …

A senior Iraqi security official said Saturday that four bombs had exploded in Baghdad, wounding 14 people. The official said the bombs targeted commercial districts in east, south, central and west Baghdad. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks. Iraq declared victory against the Islamic State group in 2017, but the group continues to carry out attacks through sleeper cells. …

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened Gaza’s Hamas rulers on Saturday with a “vigorous response” after militants used a drone to drop a bomb on the Israeli side of the Gaza-Israel perimeter fence.   This appeared to be the first-ever attempt to carry out an attack with a drone piloted from Gaza. The Israeli army said the drone released “what seems to be an explosive device” and lightly damaged an army vehicle near the fence.   The military said it retaliated with an airstrike against Palestinian militants responsible for the attack. There were no reports of injuries on the Palestinian side. Re-election bid   Netanyahu is in the midst of a re-election campaign, with less than two weeks to go before a do-over vote after he failed to secure a parliamentary majority in April’s election.   “Hamas is responsible for everything coming out of Gaza and all attacks will be met with a vigorous response,” Netanyahu said in a statement.   Hamas, which has run Gaza since 2007, is known to be developing a drone program and has used it before for reconnaissance missions over the frontier and into Israel. Using drones for attacks was previously unheard of.   Earlier, …

With the French back from summer vacation, the yellow vest movement is vowing to turn this month into a “black September” of protests. But there was little sign Saturday of the massive crowds that shuttered shops and disrupted France’s economy and politics not so long ago.   “We’re here, we’re here,” some in yellow vests sang, crossing a busy street as cars screeched to a halt. “Even if [President Emmanuel] Macron doesn’t like it, we are here.”   At the Champs-Elysees, once a no-go zone on Saturdays, riot police vastly outnumbered a small group of yellow vests defying a ban to protest there. Sept. 7, 2019. (L. Bryant/VOA) And so they were. But they counted in the thousands, not tens of thousands like before. At the Champs-Elysees, once a no-go zone on Saturdays, riot police vastly outnumbered a small group of yellow vests defying a ban to protest there. Stores once protectively boarded up against rioters were open and packed with tourists.    A couple of miles away, a scrum of yellow vests waited on a corner for others to join them. Their small group had splintered earlier in their march, which authorities had approved. Police who might have clashed with them not so long ago helped them find the whereabouts of …

VOA’s Turkish Service contributed to this report. The leading figure from Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) is facing almost 10 years in prison on terror charges. Canan Kaftancioglu, 47, was sentenced Friday to nine years, eight months and 20 days in prison on charges of spreading terrorist propaganda, insulting the state, insulting the president, insulting public officials and provoking public enmity, according to the 37th High Criminal Court in Istanbul. She is the CHP’s Istanbul provincial branch leader and played a key role in the opposition party’s victory in the June Istanbul municipal election over the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Social media posts The charges against Kaftancioglu were raised based on several social media posts she made over the course of several years. They included tweets criticizing the government’s crackdown on 2013 Gezi Park protests and the killings of three Kurdish women activists affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Paris that same year. The opposition leader in a public appearance rejected the charges as politically motivated by the government to target the opposition. Kaftancioglu said she would appeal the sentence, for which she had not yet been arrested. “We will not …

This story originated in VOA’s Ukrainian service. Some information is from Reuters and RFE. VOA Ukrainian’s Tatiana Vorozhko contributed reporting.  WASHINGTON – Ukrainian security officials have a launched an investigation into “subversive” activities by one of the Eastern European country’s defense contractors over plans to supply military hardware to neighboring Russia.    Ukraine’s main government agency for counterintelligence and counterterrorism, the SBU, confirmed Thursday that Motor Sich, the country’s largest manufacturer of engines for missiles and military aircraft, was under investigation for preparing an illegal export shipment of military or dual-use equipment to Russia, with whom Ukraine is at war. The news was first reported by RFE.    SBU officers raided Motor Sich headquarters and seized its shares in 2018 when the defense firm, then valued at nearly $500 million, was in the process of being sold to a Chinese company.    That Chinese aeronautical firm, Beijing Skyrizon Aviation, renewed efforts to acquire a controlling share of Motor Sich in June, drawing scrutiny from Kyiv’s Anti-Monopoly Committee.    The prospective sale also drew the attention of White House officials, who told Ukrainian media ahead of White House national security adviser John Bolton’s late-August visit to Kyiv that Motor Sich should not be handed over to a “potential enemy.”    As Ukraine’s antitrust agency began reviewing the proposed China deal, …

Bidi Bidi refugee camp is home to nearly a quarter-million South Sudanese who fled the violence of civil war in their home country. Its progressive policies allow refugees to live, farm and work together while they wait to return to their home country. But, as conditions are slow to improve in South Sudan, many refugees are opting to stay. U.S. Democratic Senators Chris Coons and Chris Van Hollen visited the camp recently. The two lawmakers were touring several refugee settlements throughout Uganda last month, including Bidi Bidi — one of the world’s largest. Speaking by phone, Senator Van Hollen called the settlements an “important model” that other countries should consider when housing the displaced. Commandant Nabugere Michael Joel, an official at Bidi Bidi, takes questions from a recent U.S. delegation that included Senator Chris Coons and Senator Chris Van Hollen. Bidi Bidi Camp, August 13, 2019. (I. Godfrey/CARE)   “Obviously a key ingredient to the success of that model has been significant international support,” he said. When Bidi Bidi was opened in 2016, it was a rural piece of land in northern Uganda, where South Sudanese refugees, mostly women and children, fled to avoid violence during their country’s civil war. …

Winston Churchill’s grandson, who was expelled midweek from the Conservative party for voting to delay Brexit, launched Saturday a scathing attack on Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who wrote a biography of his grandfather, saying he should stop comparing himself to Britain’s iconic wartime leader as he’s “nothing like” him. “Winston Churchill was like Winston Churchill because of his experiences in life. Boris Johnson’s experience in life is telling a lot of porkies [lies] about the EU in Brussels and then becoming prime minister,” Nicholas Soames told Britain’s The Times newspaper. Soames was among 21 Conservative rebels who were expelled from the party for voting to stop Johnson taking Britain out of the EU by October 31, something Johnson has pledged to do “no ifs or buts.” In the interview, Soames, a former defense minister, said he could see no “helpful analogy” between his grandfather and Johnson. “I don’t think anyone has called Boris a diplomat or statesman. We all know the pluses and minuses, everyone he has worked for says the same thing: he writes beautifully [but he’s] deeply unreliable.” Johnson’s Brexit options are shrinking fast. He has lost every single vote he’s brought as prime minister before the House …

Cambodia has launched a campaign to end child labor in the brick industry by 2020, a move industry observers cautiously welcome while expressing doubts the goal will be achieved, and calling for more structural changes. The industry drew international attention last year when a report, Blood Bricks: Untold Stories of Modern Slavery and Climate Change from Cambodia, asserted poverty, often caused by climate change, forced tens of thousands of Cambodians into debt bondage at brick kilns, and again in March when a 9-year-old girl lost her arm working in one of the factories. The government fined the factory and issued a directive barring children from brick kiln production line compounds. Children often live with their families in accommodation provided for by the brick factory, which often is in the direct vicinity of the kilns. The government said Aug. 31 that the director of the Labor Ministry’s Child Labor Department, Veng Heang, had started the campaign August 26 in cooperation with local authorities.  “According to the department director, any brick factory found having child labor will be severely penalised without any excuse,” the state news agency Agence Kampuchea Presse reported. One of the authors of the Blood Bricks report, Laurie Parsons, …

India’s top national security adviser said Saturday that a large number of suspected militants are trying to infiltrate Kashmir and accused Pakistan of trying to foment trouble in the region.   “About 230 terrorists are ready to infiltrate into different parts of Kashmir,” Ajit Doval, national security adviser to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, told reporters. “A large number of weapons are being smuggled and people in Kashmir are being told to create trouble.”   Military officials said the information was based on radio intercepts and ground intelligence.     India has long accused Pakistan of supporting and training militants to foment a separatist insurgency in Kashmir, charges Islamabad denies. A month after India brought its only Muslim-majority territory under its direct control, scrapped its semi-autonomous status and deployed thousands of troops to prevent violent protests, residents in Kashmir continue to face curbs on travel and communications restrictions.  Although most landlines are functioning, the internet and mobile phone services have still not been restored. FILE – India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval attends a ceremony to celebrate India’s 73rd Independence Day, marking the end of British colonial rule, in Srinagar, India, Aug 15, 2019. “We would like to see all restrictions …

North Korea’s call on the United Nations to cut its international staff involved in humanitarian work there could be a move to gain leverage over sanctions relief, a human rights expert said Thursday. Pyongyang told the U.N. in an August 21 letter it wants the world body to slash the number of aid workers inside the country by the end of the year because U.N. programs have been ineffective, according to a Wednesday report  by Reuters.  The news service quoted Kim Chang Min, secretary general for North Korea’s National Coordinating Committee for the U.N., as writing that “U.N. supported programs failed to bring the results as desired due to the politicization of U.N. assistance by hostile forces” in the letter. The letter comes at a time when talks between Pyongyang and Washington have been stalled since their Hanoi summit in February failed due to their difference over denuclearization and sanctions relief.  The United States rejected North Korea’s proposal for sanctions relief in exchange for partial denuclearization while asking it to carry out complete denuclearization. Greg Scarlatoiu, executive director of the Washington-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, however, called the letter “an insidious way of blackmailing the international community.”  …

Venezuela opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez is forming a shadow government from his refuge at the Spanish Embassy in Caracas, despite an agreement that prohibited him from engaging in political activity when the embassy granted him asylum five months ago. Lopez sought the protection of Spain’s diplomatic mission after he led a failed coup against embattled President Nicolas Maduro in April. He was backed in the effort by parliamentary president Juan Guaido, who is recognized as the transitional head of state by the United States and 50 other countries. Guaido says that he has named Lopez to form a “center of government,” or shadow cabinet, to prepare for an eventual takeover by the opposition, as U.S. sanctions bite into Maduro’s remaining lifelines. Spain says the conditions under which they took in Lopez have not changed. But Maduro’s growing isolation and Venezuela’s deteriorating economy may be forcing the hand of EU governments, which have been trying to broker a deal between Maduro and his opponents on terms for new elections. FILE – Venezuelan opposition leader and parliamentary president Juan Guaido addresses lawmakers of the National Assembly, in front of an image of Venezuelan independence hero Simon Bolivar, in Caracas, Venezuela, Sept. 3, …